


Let him go.

by darksquall



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Alternate Universe, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:08:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21582781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darksquall/pseuds/darksquall
Summary: So a couple years back i found a list of "best bits" prompts on tumblr, and sadly I can't seem to find it now. But i did save the prompts and this was a ficlet I wrote for #5, "let him go."Total AU. What happened when both Seifer and Squall made SeeD? Something far worse.
Relationships: Seifer Almasy/Squall Leonhart
Comments: 6
Kudos: 46





	Let him go.

“Let him go.” 

The gun pressed to his temple wavered briefly at the distraction but then it pressed tight against his hair once more. The cowboy’s finger had eased off the trigger somewhat but he remained attentive. “Give me one good reason.”

“It’s an order, for one,” Squall replied coolly. He blinked just once, and tilted his head just enough to be able to eye Irvine Kinneas. There was something in his gaze, something hard, cold and bottomlessly empty, like gazing into the eyes of a vysage. He wasn’t human - not anymore. “You aren’t SeeD yet, but you should know how to follow orders.”

“Like you do, for that bitch?”

Squall’s lips curled slowly in a vicious smirk. “Orders, Irvine Kinneas, are orders.”

Seifer rushed down the steps and pushed past the crowd of other SeeDs and students. On reaching them, he slapped the barrel of Irvine’s weapon upwards. The jerk snapped Irvine out of his trance and he cursed. He’d almost pulled the trigger. “Damnit, Seifer!”

“I told you, to _let him go_ ,” Seifer said, his tone tightly impatient. “I suggest you take a walk.”

“But…”

“If he was going to attack, he’d have come armed,” Seifer hissed, pushing Irvine back a step and turning his attention to Squall again. There was no junction point at his hip and although he practically hummed with magic, none of it was his own aside from Shiva’s Junction. “Right, Leonhart?”

“Mmm, observant. You haven’t changed.”

As soon as Squall Leonhart, Sorceress’ Knight had appeared within a hundred feet of Garden, Seifer had known about it. There had been at least half a dozen weapons trained on him at every step as soon as he’d neared the front gates and it hadn’t been until that first black leather boot had settled onto the first step into the building that Irvine had finally snapped and moved close enough to be a threat. Seifer had been waiting to see if Squall would just walk straight in. “Oh, I wouldn’t go that far. I’ve changed a little.”

Squall tipped his head back the other way, the movement exaggerated, like a marionette on a string. Well, that was what he was, wasn’t it? Just a puppet. A knight for the sorceress’ will. “We hope you haven’t changed too much… that would be _inkonvenient_.”

A shudder of revulsion ran through Seifer, starting with a prickle of cold at the back of his neck and running the full length of his spine. He declined responding for the moment, steadying himself as he instead gripped Irvine by the shoulder properly and pushed him back. Squall wasn’t armed, but he did have the Sorceress’ power running through his body like an electrical current. “Move. Move, all of you. Back inside and prepare Garden for travel again,” he gave Irvine a hard look. “ _All_ of you.”

One by one, the SeeDs and students turned and filed away slowly as they whispered between themselves in hushed tones, the crowd thinning little by little. Quistis and Irvine were the last ones to move, lingering on the steps. They were waiting for him, but he wasn’t going anywhere until the threat was dealt with, and Squall was gone. “Seifer, what about you?”

“She’s got a message for me and that’s why he’s here. To deliver it, right, Leonhart?”

Squall lifted his hands and began to clap slowly. His gloved hands sounded hollow and echoed against the walls of the entrance to Garden oddly, every time his hands came together, they sent another little shudder of revulsion through Seifer. “Oh you are good at this. I would have sent the messenger girl but… we are not above running our own errands.”

“Seifer,” Irvine’s vice was tight, strained. He was close to making a mistake. Selphie’s nickname had not helped matters.

“Quisty, take him inside. I’m just giving them five minutes to talk and I promise I’ll be back inside.”

“Two minutes,” Quistis countered coolly. “Then I come back for you.”

“Three,” Seifer returned, glancing her way with his best smirk. “C’mon Quis, you know I’m no slouch.”

“Three minutes,” she gave a quick nod of confirmation, though she seemed hesitant. Finally the two of them passed back into the garden entrance and the doors closed with a final loud thump. It sounded awfully hollow.

With them finally gone, Seifer let out a breath he felt like he’d been holding ever since Squall had first been spotted on the security system. “Well? What’s the message.”

“My lady offers a trade, Ellone for whichever of us you’d like,” Squall’s lips curled in an unnatural smirk and his eyes flashed gold. It wasn’t his voice. Not really. Seifer knew that all too keenly and painfully. He heard the echo of the sorceress’ power and voice in the words that Squall spoke. It was almost like he could hear her voice half a second before Squall’s lips moved. “There is one of us you’d like back… isn’t there? And your friends have their own desires.”

SeeD shouldn’t leave a man behind. Seifer knew that just as painfully as he knew that wasn’t Squall’s voice or motivations making the offer. It was his fault Squall had been taken, his fault Selphie was gone, and his fault Zell was in their power too. Being offered the chance to redeem himself was a painful slap in the face. It would also doom the entire world to be destroyed. “We won’t give you Ellone, so sorry.”

“Told her you wouldn’t want to play,” Squall said, his voice _only_ his own for perhaps the first time that Seifer had heard since the day after their SeeD exam. Squall blinked slowly, the gold bleeding out of his eyes and into the surrounding flesh before it faded away completely. “You never did play well with others.”

“Played well with you a few times,” Seifer said softly. “Didn’t I?”

“Mmm… I miss you, when I’m me,” Squall gave the briefest shrug and a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Fortunately there isn’t a lot of _me_ left.”

Seifer breathed in, and out, his hand tightening on his blade junction point. “There would have been even less of you if Kinneas had blown your head off.”

“She would have just bought me back. Again.”

Seifer felt his skin crawl. Life magic had limits, Life magic could not bring people with injuries incompatible with life. An injury as extensive as that would have required full life and an extremely experienced caster, especially with injuries that severe. A spell as rare as hen’s teeth. Unless you were a sorceress, of course. “How many times have you died?”

Squall bit his lip briefly and gave the softest chuckle. “How many times have we fought? I forget.”

Seifer stared at him for a moment. “Squall…” he took a shaky breath, clenching his fists and forcing them to his side. It wasn’t Squall’s fault, it was hers. The monster. The evil Bitch. Hurting Squall would not hurt her any more than kicking the ground and stamping like a toddler having a tantrum would hurt her. 

“Our time is up,” Squall shrugged, starting to turn on his heel. “This is goodbye.”

“You… Squall…”

The golden glow was already starting to seep back slowly into Squall’s left eye like ink into cotton. He didn’t have much time. Seifer grabbed Squall by his shirt and hauled him closer, kissing him hungrily. Kissing him like he had the night after they’d both made SeeD. For a moment, a single beautiful moment, Squall was kissing back and it was like nothing had ever changed. Everything was still _right._  
  
Then in the next breath, Squall was pushing him away as his eyes shimmered to solid gold. “Goodbye, Almasy,” he said again, his voice resonating with that of another. Ultimecia was back in full control. “I doubt we will meet again on such friendly terms.”

Seifer watched him walk away, the world shimmering and bending around his form before it swallowed him up.

He’d promised himself he’d get Squall back, or die trying. He was beginning to realise, there was every chance it would kill them both.

**Author's Note:**

> Forgive me not having time to work on worthy opponent much with other things distracting me (like more WL). I make up for it by sharing an older ficlet.
> 
> See I have a theory that FF8 was the second time around for Seifer. The first time he realised he couldn't win against Squall.... and he had to go back with time compression and make it so Squall could win for the right side this time.
> 
> That is why he smiles at Garden at the end. 
> 
> I can't promise I will ever write the full fic for this, but it was fun to play.....


End file.
